Easy Buckets

I was looking back at some of our most recent games and some of the first games of the season and was shocked. We are getting 10 fewer shots now then to start the season.

I remember the first few games of the season we were up and down the floor getting easy buckets time and again. We are back to having to work to get baskets in our half-court offense. Is it because Lindsey was our back up and he is more apt to push the ball when he played?

I thought Stucky's game would be faster. Is it because he is learning the set offense or just the way he is going to play? If we can get Amir in the lineup with him it may speed things up vs. the older guys or Brezec.

I just thought we were going to be a little more up and down the floor this year with our younger players to get some easier baskets. That was how the season started but things have changed and we are missing the opportunity to shoot 10 more times a game.

I don't think it's Hunter. Seems to me that CB isn't pushing the ball up the floor anymore. He's gotten lazy again and Flip isn't pushing him. If Tay or Rip brings the ball up it's a lot faster.

I distinctly remember being kind of stunned those first games of the season when CB was running up the floor. I bet they're getting into the half court offense three or four seconds later now than at the beginning of the season.

You sure we're down 10 possession per game? That seems like a huge change.

Are you taking an average from a range of games then and now?

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Was only looking at first few games but went back and took first dozen and last. The descrepency is only 3 "shots" per game. I wasn't looking at possessions. May be it just seems like we are working harder to score then when we started the season.

I don't think it's Hunter. Seems to me that CB isn't pushing the ball up the floor anymore. He's gotten lazy again and Flip isn't pushing him. If Tay or Rip brings the ball up it's a lot faster.

I distinctly remember being kind of stunned those first games of the season when CB was running up the floor. I bet they're getting into the half court offense three or four seconds later now than at the beginning of the season.

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Exactly. I remember CB charging up the floor those first 5 games for easy scores to Rip and Tay. Not any more.

Was only looking at first few games but went back and took first dozen and last. The descrepency is only 3 "shots" per game. I wasn't looking at possessions. May be it just seems like we are working harder to score then when we started the season.

I thought we would try and run more to utilize our speed and youth.

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It seems to me that you also have to look at our opponents shots per game over this time frame.

It could be that we are getting fewer shots per game because our defense has improved and it is taking longer for our opponents to take a shot, thereby lower the available time for us to take shots.

It's less about how many shots you get and more about putting yourself in the position to take advantage of times when the defense isn't set. It's just harder to play when you give the defense the chance to set up and get ready for you. And that's what happens when you walk the ball up.

Someone needs to look at the film from the first five game of the season and the last five and compute the average number of seconds it takes the Pistons to get the ball across halfcourt.

a) If we are shooting poorly, then we will get more rebounds and more shots.

b) If we are ahead, we will get fouled down the stretch and have several possessions in a row without shot attempts.

c) If we are trying to increase the tempo, and as a result turn the ball over more, we will show fewer attempts.

I would propose that the best measure of tempo is probably possessions per game, with the caveat that "b" above will skew it upwards. In our case, that should not matter much because our leads have been so big that not many games have turned into foul fests at the end.

The absolute best measure would be "time per offensive possession, excluding possessions after the 2:00 mark in the 4th quarter."

a) If we are shooting poorly, then we will get more rebounds and more shots.

b) If we are ahead, we will get fouled down the stretch and have several possessions in a row without shot attempts.

c) If we are trying to increase the tempo, and as a result turn the ball over more, we will show fewer attempts.

I would propose that the best measure of tempo is probably possessions per game, with the caveat that "b" above will skew it upwards. In our case, that should not matter much because our leads have been so big that not many games have turned into foul fests at the end.

The absolute best measure would be "time per offensive possession, excluding possessions after the 2:00 mark in the 4th quarter."

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One could also measure tempo by the the average number of seconds per possession that it takes to get the ball over the half court line and/or get your shot off.

In this case you would exclude turnovers and possessions when you are fouled in the number of seconds that it took to get your shot off.

I thought about this yesterday and was going to make an adjustment for free throws. You figure that when free throws are shot; a shot attempt is missing. Whether it was a foul in the act of shooting or not.

Not quite as scientific as some of the other suggestions but I have a wife, kids and a job.